Amid the global coronavirus pandemic — and a massive response by policymakers — how can community banks best meet customer and employee needs while managing their balance sheets and loan portfolios? On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Reich and Tang Deposit Solutions — CenterState Bank Chief Strategy Officer Chris Nichols outlines how he and his bank are thinking through these challenges.

“We’re trying to get a handle on each industry, trying to understand it better down to . . . the details of their cost structure, what exposures they have to interest rates, what exposures they have to other customers and their credit, and then working backwards from there,” Nichols says. “Because I think this could be an all-hands-on-deck crisis for a while for banks.”

In this episode, Nichols discusses:

• The speed with which the crisis arrived and the uncertainty about how long it will last.
• The immediate challenge to credit quality, and managing it by contacting customers, discerning their situations and managing outstanding loans and lines of credit.
• How community banks can manage the rapid margin compression from the Fed’s interest rate moves.

Additional resources:

• ABA resources on COVID-19 pandemic response and business continuity planning
• How banks are helping clients, employees and communities during the pandemic
• Article by Chris Nichols on responding to COVID-19 as a bank.